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Criminal Justice Publications

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Report

Default Prove-Up Process, Chapter 193, Statutes of 2011 (AB 110, Blumenfield)

July 18, 2014 - In recent years, various concerns have been raised regarding the state’s “default prove-up process”—a trial court process related to certain civil cases involving the collection of debt. In view of the concerns raised by stakeholders, the Legislature passed Chapter 193, Statutes of 2011 (AB 110, Blumenfield), requiring both Judicial Council (the policymaking and governing body of the judicial branch) and our office to review the state’s default prove-up process. This report responds to the requirements specified in Chapter 193.

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Public Safety Realignment Funding Allocation

May 12, 2014 - Public Safety Realignment Funding Allocation

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Trial Court Operations Funding

May 7, 2014 - Presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on Public Safety

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An Update on Achieving a Constitutional Level of Correctional Medical Care

May 1, 2014 - Presented to: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 5 On Corrections, Public Safety and the Judiciary

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Trial Court Operations Funding

April 10, 2014 - Presented to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 5 On Corrections, Public Safety and the Judiciary

Report

The 2014-15 Budget: The Administration's Response to the Prison Overcrowding Order

February 28, 2014 - In this report, we provide an analysis of the Governor's proposals to comply with the federal court order to reduce the state's prison population. Specifically, we review the administration's plans to comply with the population cap by (1) contracting for additional prison bed space, (2) utilizing funding from the Recidivism Reduction Fund to support initiatives intended to reduce the prison population (such as expanding rehabilitative services), and (3) implementing court-ordered population reduction measures. We recommend a variety of modifications to the Governor’s proposals. In particular, we recommend using a portion of the monies in the Recidivism Reduction Fund to evaluate the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's current rehabilitative programs and to expand an existing grant program that incentivizes counties to reduce prison admissions.

Report

The 2014-15 Budget: Governor's Criminal Justice Proposals

February 19, 2014 - In the report we provide an analysis of the Governor's budget proposals for state criminal justice programs, including the judicial branch, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), and various proposals related to local public safety. The report reviews the most significant proposals in these departments and offers corresponding recommendations for the Legislature's consideration. For example, we recommend that the Legislature take several actions to improve the administration’s approach to trial court funding, including the current trial court reserves policy. In addition, we review the administration’s proposals related to correctional relief staffing and overtime and make a series of recommendations to reduce spending on staffing and overtime and make CDCR's staffing process more cost-efficient.

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Assessment of CDCR Blueprint

January 30, 2014 - Presented to: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee

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Addressing the Federal Court Prison Population Cap

September 4, 2013 - Presented to: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee

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Maximizing Federal Reimbursement for Parolee Mental Health Care

May 8, 2013 - Presented to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 3 on Health and Human Services

Report

The 2013-14 Budget: Maximizing Federal Reimbursement for Parolee Mental Health Care

May 6, 2013 - Historically, the state has spent tens of millions of dollars annually from the General Fund for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to provide mental health treatment services to mentally ill parolees. Our analysis indicates that federal Medicaid reimbursements could be attained for some of the costs of these existing services. Moreover, the amount of federal reimbursements could increase significantly under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) if the Legislature chooses to expand Medi-Cal to provide health coverage to most low-income individuals, as authorized by ACA. In order to maximize the federal reimbursements that will be available for parolee mental health treatment, especially if the state expands Medi-Cal eligibility, we recommend that CDCR (1) provide increased Medi-Cal application assistance for mentally ill parolees to ensure that all eligible parolees are enrolled, (2) develop a process—in collaboration with the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS)—to claim federal reimbursement for the costs of assisting inmates with benefits applications, and (3) develop a process—in collaboration with DHCS—to claim federal reimbursement for parolee mental health treatment services provided to parolees. If the state took these steps, we estimate it could achieve net General Fund savings of about $6 million in 2013-14 and $28 million annually upon full implementation in 2014-15 (assuming the state implements the Medi-Cal expansion).

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Complying With the Three-Judge Panel Prison Population Limit

April 17, 2013 - Presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on Public Safety

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Overview of the Judicial Branch Budget (Assembly Version)

April 3, 2013 - Presented to: Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on Public Safety

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Overview of the Judicial Branch Budget

March 14, 2013 - Presented to: Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on Corrections, Public Safety and the Judiciary Hon. Loni Hancock, Chair

Report

The 2013-14 Budget: Governor's Criminal Justice Proposals

February 15, 2013 - The Governor’s 2013-14 budget for criminal justice programs is relatively flat. It contains few major proposals for the judiciary or corrections compared with recent years when the state budget included significant budget cuts to programs, as well as major policy changes. In total, the Governor's budget provides $13.2 billion for criminal justice programs in 2013-14. This is an increase of about 2 percent over estimated current-year expenditures. In this report, we review the Governor’s 2013-14 budget proposals for criminal justice programs, including the judicial branch, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Board of State and Community Corrections, and the Department of Justice. We identify concerns with several of the proposals and make recommendations for legislative consideration. In some cases, we identify proposals that we think should be rejected or modified, resulting in several million dollars of General Fund savings. We also identify several issues that we think would benefit from additional legislative oversight. These include (1) how trial courts will implement budget reductions in coming years, particularly in the absence of reserves beginning in 2014-15, (2) the new staffing methodology being implemented by the federal court-appointed Receiver currently managing the state’s inmate medical system, and (3) efforts by the Board of State and Community Corrections to meet its statutory mission to assist local agencies improve criminal justice outcomes through technical assistance and data collection.

Criminal Justice Staff

Anita Lee
(916) 319-8321
Courts, Department of Justice, Gambling
 
Caitlin O'Neil
(916) 319-8351
State Prisons, County Jails, Sentencing
 
Jared Sippel
(916) 319-8335
Emergency Services and Business Regulation
 
Orlando Sanchez Zavala
(916) 319-8307
Correctional Health Care, Rehabilitation Programs, Juvenile Justice, Community Corrections
 
Drew Soderborg
(916) 319-8346
Deputy Legislative Analyst: Public Safety and Business Regulation